Punjab: Leopard rescued from Morinda village after 12-hour operation

Punjab: The Forest and Wildlife Department on Sunday rescued a six-year-old male leopard from Amrali village in Morinda after a 12-hour long operation. A suspected sighting of a leopard two weeks ago had created panic in Morinda and Kharar areas. Villagers had noticed its footprints in their fields about a month ago. On Sunday morning, villagers spotted the leopard sitting on a tree, following which the wildlife team was called in. Officials said the leopard first entered the fodder stock in nearby fields. “We drove a jeep into the fields to flush it out.

Later it fled into paddy fields. Around 5 pm, we managed to track and tranquillise the leopard,” said Kulraj Singh Randhawa, DFO of Ropar range. The cat has been sent to Chattbir zoo for the time being till it is released into the wild, officials said. Meanwhile, residents of Simbalmajra in Kharar and Mahmoodpur in Fatehgarh Sahib have been scared since leopard footprints were seen in the fields on September 9 and 10. A team from the Mohali wildlife department searched the area but couldn’t find the leopard. Since no one had seen the cat, nor was any carcass found, its presence could not be confirmed.